17 year cicadas

[markie]

Ok, well when May rolls around, can you suburban dwellers let me know if you see a big swarm?

[mankie]

Oh markie old chap...you'll see the little feckers trust me, I remember them from the last time round....It was  my first  summer here and I remember thinking to myself, "where the flying *uck have I come to live with these things all over the place" it's like a sci-fi movie. In some areas they fall out of the trees into your hair and they are so dense on the sidewalk that you can't help but "crunch crunch crunch" your way through them. Driving.... they SPLAT on your windshield like you've just hit a friggin bird.
 
 My wife is freaking already, she thought I was making this shit up until she asked some people at her work and they confirmed it.
 
 Funny thing is though, they're kind of cute in their own way..and the noise they make, while almost deafening, is somewhat relaxing.
 
 And yes, they're brownish and orange.

[markie]

Thats good, thanks Mankie. I always wanted to see plague, pestilence and flood....... I cant wait.

[poorlulu]

whew you guys had me really scared i thought you were talking about this guy.......  <img src="http://www.lyricscafe.com/s/secada_jon/jon_secada.jpg" alt=" - " />
 
 although the idea of crunching him under foot sounds quite good............

[ratioci nation]

Originally posted by poorlulu:
  I love Jon Secada

luckily I think we have a few more years before he comes back

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by mark e smith:
  Ok, well when May rolls around, can you suburban dwellers let me know if you see a big swarm?

i would like to see a swarm too!  they sound very interesting  

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by mankie:
 and the noise they make, while almost deafening, is somewhat relaxing.
 

like Wilco?  or better?

[ggw]

They don't really "swarm" except dead on the ground.  They can't fly very well, and they will come into your car if you are cruising around with the windows open.

[poorlulu]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  They don't really "swarm" except dead on the ground.  They can't fly very well, and they will come into your car if you are cruising around with the windows open.

shit no "air conditioning" this summer then.............

[mankie]

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
   

Originally posted by mankie:
 and the noise they make, while almost deafening, is somewhat relaxing.
 

like Wilco?  or better? [/b]

It would be nice if Wilco only came round once every 17 years too...I could handle that, maybe.

[Dandy01]

this reminds me of when they last came and i was in high school and the boys would throw them in the girls' hair.
 speaking of Jon Secada, I remember seeing him at this Red Cross festival in Old Town and the women swooning all over him!

[MaLo]

they only last for about a month...or at least that is what i've been told...it seemed like they lasted all summer last time

[Venerable Bede]

my freshman year at college coincided with a similar event, except it was crickets.  the campus smelled of dead and rotting crickets for a month or so.  crunch crunch crunch

[Sir HC]

They are around about a month, but there are the early and late comers so  you get more total time.
 
 They are pretty damn big too, so watch out when you are speeding along, they are a mouthful.
 
 Coolest is all their shells (they molt when they come out) all over the trees.

[Justin Tonation]

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  They are around about a month, but there are the early and late comers so  you get more total time.

The media circus cicada event lasts a few weeks from late May to mid June. That's just one or two species of cicada. Other species come out later in the summer but not nearly in the same numbers.
 
 BTW, entomologists call our batch of cicadas  Brood X , as in "brood number ten".
 
 Brood X Fest, anyone?